This invention relates generally to a disperser and, more particularly, to an inhalant disperser for dispelling vaporizable liquids.
Inhalant dispersers or inhalators for releasing ammonia or medicated vapors for treating persons suffering from fainting spells and the like are well known. Such devices generally comprise an inner container or ampoule of a frangible material containing a vaporizable liquid and encapsulated within a liquid absorbent material, such as cotton for example. In use, the container is broken to release the liquid, which is absorbed by the cotton and dispelled as a vapor through the porous cotton material. While many such inhalators are admirably suited for their intended purposes, they possess certain disadvantages. For example, the cotton fabric often is saturated with a starch solution prior to tightly wrapping the same about the container. After wrapping, the package is dried under controlled temperatures to substantially rigidify and strengthen the finished product. The starch tends to close the pores of the cotton material and retards, to some degree, subsequent impregnation thereof by the liquid solution released from the container. This, in turn, retards the escape of vapors for inhalation by the user.
In another approach, the step of wetting the cotton material with a starch solution is eliminated. Instead, the strip of cotton is wrapped loosely about the frangible container and then bound by a fabric netting, which confines the cotton material and serves as a container for the finished product. While such packaged inhalators do speed up liquid impregnation of the cotton material and consequent vaporization, they do not effectively confine the fragments of the broken container thereby subjecting the user to possible injury.